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Comment by chanri | Hacker News Reader

Is there any way to gain practice on negotiation? As an entrepreneur, are there any resources on the internet where you can "practice"?

The only thing I can think of is playing poker or something at the casino...

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Have kids or babysit? Kids are awesome negotiators, because they don't care about the other party at all, they just want to get the best deal for themselves possible. They also start from a position of weakness in most negotiations, which means they need to try some wonderfully creative strategies to get what they want.

Actually, I wonder why most adults lose that ability as they get older. My guess is that sometime in the teen years, people start caring about what others think of them, and that is poison to negotiations.

This. Having a toddler has given me a lot of practice in how to negotiate. Also, a negotiation book (The Secrets of Power Negotiation) helped me with the toddler.

A lot of your day to day activities can involve negotiating. For example, taking your car in for service/repair? Negotiate the price. Buying tires? Negotiate the price. Booking a hotel room? Negotiate. Doctor visit? Negotiate the fee. Heck, even a department store will often negotiate if you're nice.

Negotiations is a required class at my b-school. The material is soft. The lecture itself only lasts a short amount of the time. For the rest of the class, you just practice. Negotiate with another party (using a case study to determine your role.) The class ended after the results were tallied and the class discussed different approaches to the problem. It wasn't a tough class, but it was useful and enjoyable.

>It wasn't a tough class, but it was useful and enjoyable.

Did you negotiate your grade at the end of the class?

I was just thinking along this line as well. The best I could come out with is going to recruiters for a job interview.

I reckon that these guys are good negotiators and see how I can fare against them.

Edit : Oh, just thought of another one. Tele marketers. I would probably welcome them with open arms now

Interesting exercise. Most recruiters will talk your wage / salary down. The difference in commission for the recruiter negotiating UP from an initial offer from a company (like $75,000 vs $80,000 (what you want)) or $95,000 - $105,000 is a very neglibile difference in their percentage of the recruiters fee. This, opposed to NO recruiters fee for losing the placement because the company decides that the extra $5,000 is not worth it (AH FRUSTRATING!) Its lovely when a candidate wants $120,000 plus relocation, and, the company goes "sold." Not typical in my own experience as a tech recruiter.

Doing some negotiating that is low-stakes but has a value attached. For example, talk to a friend / sibling / whatever and offer to babysit / trade services (e.g. web design for massage) in exchange for $WHATEVER.

http://www.csub.edu/regional/PDF/erm_outline.pdf

  Negotiation/Conflict Management 
  CSUB-Online
  InSt 435 (5) or 
  Mgmt 430 (5)

It's online, so when I took it, there were no in-state/out-of-state fee differences. When I took it (a long time ago), the two main texts for the class were "Getting to Yes" and "The mind and heart of the negotiator". http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Heart-Negotiator-Leigh-Thompson/d...

I highly recommend the second book especially. Towards the end of class, there is a group negotiation exercise. I thought it was quite good.

wondering the same thing...

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